Spread the Word

You've heard of Smile Dog, right? That terrifying picture of a husky smiling in a demonic way? Yeah, that one. Well I was looking at internet memes and scary stories a few months ago. I stumbled across an Urban Legend video which I found interesting. I watched the video and it told a few basic facts about spontaneous human combustion and sleep paralysis. The video also contained a couple of screamers to kill the mood a little. The end story was of Smile Dog. It simply presented the picture and told the viewer the legend. I researched it a bit more and found it to be... terrifying but quite cool.

I began talking about it to my friends at school the next day, and it turned out something of a common interest. People would often use it jokingly, like in a history lesson our teacher told us. "He collapsed on the floor" and my friend leaned towards me and said, "I guess he saw Smile Dog", and it would often make us laugh. We then found other stories such as Red Mist or Squidward Suicide, Candle Cove. Then, we dropped the subject of Smile Dog for a while after that.

In our school, we often talk to this boy. His name was Michael. He was a strange child, he never spoke to us and he would often keep to himself. We had no idea where he would be at lunch time, he wouldn't be hanging out with us. We found it not to be of our concern. He'd often leave lessons early to visit the hospital, as he was a rather sickly child.

He told me only a few of his afflictions, the most noticeable being epilepsy and schizophrenia. He never shows signs of these, though. If he mentioned them he would often laugh it off and dismiss them. He approached me one day, and inquired about Smile Dog. I replied, "Oh, that thing? Yeah, it's obviously fake." To that, Michael said, "Can I see it?" I didn't save it or anything, so I told him to look it up. I was busy with homework at the time and when people try to talk to me I'm rather irritable.He walked off without looking back.

But I didn't see Michael the next day. He was supposed to be in a few of our lessons, but he didn't show up. Nobody, not even the teachers, knew where he was. It was after our first lesson, I was called into the Headmaster's office. The Headmaster sat me down in front of his desk and told me,

"Your friend Michael has been instated to a mental institution. He apparently saw something scary, and he kept having visions of it. Have you any idea what that might be?"

I immediately remembered Smile Dog.

"Y-y-yes sir."

The Headmaster immediately brought up his computer, and I was faced with the Google search engine. I changed the search to images and typed in "Smile Dog". I showed the Headmaster the full, unedited image of Smile Dog.

"O-oh my..." he said.

He told me that Michael would probably want to see me. He arranged for transport for me to the mental institute.

I entered the colossal building with the headmaster, where we were stopped by a doctor. She said, "Michael only wants his friend, I'm afraid." The headmaster gave me a bewildered look, and I said that's fine. I strolled down the large, intimidating corridor and reached room 204. The room had a padded floor and wall, and a light. No windows, except for a minuscule viewing slot through the door. I walked in, and almost vomited.

Michael was lying face down in the middle of the room with his hands still gripped tight on his neck. He was dead. There was a hastily scrawled note left next to him. It was for me.

"Josh,

I saw that Smile Dog picture that you told me about. It's everywhere. No matter what we do, it can't be stopped. It appears in the brightest moments of your life, it'll always be watching, never moving. It will not go away. Why did they have to put me in this room? Why did I have to be trapped in this godforsaken room, I had no escape no matter how much I kicked off, the doctors wouldn't believe me!

This was the only way out, I guess. But what if the dog is still there during death? When you're weak or incapacitated? He'll drag you down to Hell from where he once came... this is the reality, Josh. Do not ever mention Smile Dog to anyone ever again."

I pocketed the note, and alerted the doctors. Upon further inspection of his body, his hand was blocking a horrifying, viscous bite into his neck. The teeth marks matched that of a dog's. A Siberian husky. I keep going over and over that note in my head. I can't believe it. He was such a nice boy, and I regret every bad thing I ever said to him. Why did it have to end this way for him?

There's a small part in my head saying that I'm responsible, and another portion of my head believes that this is all just fake, and I should have been more aware of Michael's afflictions. The only trouble is, I'm running out of options to believe. I didn't know that schizophrenia was contagious. But I keep seeing that damn little dog in the corner of my eye everywhere I go. It's starting to get on my nerves-wait a minute...

Is that? No... I hear panting and scratching on my door... I'm- oh no...

s-s-spread the word